First story publication of 2018

I wanted to acknowledge that I’ve had a new tidbit of fiction appear, and that it’s quite a bit different from anything I’ve had pop out before.

First, it’s part of an ensemble piece, written for what the publishers called a “screaming corpse.” That’s not a literal corpse, believe it or not, but a type of “exquisite corpse.” In your standard “exquisite corpse” exercise, the writer of each new section is allowed to read only the previous section, so that the final product comes out disjointed and surreal. (With this particular story, the contributors were allowed to cheat, and read all the preceding installments, though things got pretty surreal anyway.) The requirement to turn an “exquisite corpse” into a “screaming corpse”? Every writer had to incorporate the phrase “And then the murders began” into their section.

Second, you only get to read this story if you backed The Kaleidocast: Season Two Kickstarter. The story was released to backers on Jan. 19. An audio adaptation by C.S.E. Cooney is forthcoming — also available only to backers.